Story Time
by Jan Monroe
Summary: Jack reads a little Danny a bed time story


Story time

Gen, Downsized Daniel, unaware

Thanks to Fiona for her job betaing my story.

Jack smiled; he had found an old copy of "The Night before Christmas". He fondly remembered his uncle reading it to him when he was a child and was looking forward to reading to his now 3 year old best-friend-son-science-project-whatever. No one knew how long Daniel was going to look and act like a 3 year old, but Jack was having a ball, making the most of playing with him. They had participated in Christmas festivities all over town this year - because most of them were just so much more fun with a kid along.

Danny liked visiting his Uncle Jack. They had fun together. Bedtime was one of the best parts of the day. Danny clambered up on Jack's lap in the big chair and they would read at least three books.

Jack smiled as he opened the first book. He started to read: "Twas the Night before Christmas..."

Danny immediately asked, "What's twas?"

Jack knew a question like that was coming. Danny wanted to know the meanings of new words, it was like he had a collection of them and he just had to add to it. "Clement Moore just wanted to say 'it was' and smooched the words together and got twas."

"Okay," Danny replied.

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was..."

"Did they have creatures back then like t-rex?"

"No, he means creatures like people and pets." Jack found his place again. "...Stirring, not even a mouse."

"Were mouses pets?"

"No, but lots of houses had mouses," Jack answered, thinking this book was going to take a little longer than the other books to read. He restarted. "The stockings..."

Danny frowned. "Aunt Sam has stockings but she hides them."

"Stockings is a really old word for socks. Like the Christmas stocking you have at the SGC." Well, he knew old words excited Danny, so what if one of his things was for stockings. He hadn't known that about Carter. "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St Nicholas..."

"Who's St. Nicholas?" Danny asked.

"It's another name for Santa." Jack took a breath and continued, "...soon would be there. The children were nestled..."

"How do you nestled?" Danny chimed.

"They made a place for themselves under the covers, like snugly in a nest of bedding." Jack explained, ready to continue the story.

"Birds make nest, not people! Were they bird people?" Danny giggled at the thought.

"No, one of nests meaning is a safe place and nestle isn't the same as nest." Jack looked back at the book, "the children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums..."

"What's sugar-plums?"

"Candy, now hush and let me read the story," Jack admonished. Danny's curiosity needed to be curbed at times. Especially when a bedtime story was actually making him more energized than sleepy.

"Okay." Danny wasn't happy but didn't want Jack to stop reading so he accepted it.

Jack read, ". . .danced in their heads. And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap."

Jack was glad that Danny had let those two lines pass. He didn't think he was up to talking about 19th century sleep wear. "When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash -"

"Flash like the gate?" Danny asked.

"No, flash like running fast." Jack keep on reading, "Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash."

"What did he do?" Danny asked, confused.

"He opened the window," Jack answered. "The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below."

"What?"

"It was a really brightly lit night and it was bright enough to see by."

"When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer."

"Is Santa tiny?" Danny asked, worried this time.

"No, he just looked that way from the upstairs window," Jack explained. "With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St Nick."

"Who St Nick? Is he like grandpa Nick?"

"No, St Nick is Santa."

"Oh...." Danny sighed mollified.

"More rapid than eagles his coursers..."

"What's a coursers?" Danny asked, adding to his word collection.

Jack though for a minute and replied, "I'm not sure, we'll look it up tomorrow. . . . they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name! 'Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!'"

Jack was vaguely shocked that he got through an entire stanza without a question. "As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky."

"What did the reindeer do?" Danny asked.

"They ran across the yard and took off. This is the good part," Jack commented as he read. "So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too."

"Wow." Danny was impressed by Santa's sleigh.

"And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound."

Danny thought that bound was the wrong word but let it slide as he listened to Jack read.  
"He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack."

"What's a peddler?" Danny asked.

"Someone who sells stuff, like the folks that have carts in the mall," Jack explained. He had learned to give examples with his definitions or he would spend hours explaining the explanations. He started the next stanza, "His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow -"

"What's his mouth doing?"

"Smiling... And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath." Jack read.

"Does Santa still smoke?" Danny put in, worried about Santa and lung cancer.

"He gave it up when he learned it was bad for you." Jack knew this question was coming. Danny had a thing about putting out cigarettes if he found them lit, no matter who was holding it. All Danny said was 'bad for you.' Jack continued, "He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!"

The artwork caught Danny's attention and he looked at the pictures as Jack read, "He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself! A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread."

"Why he scared of Santa?" That made no sense to Danny. Santa was a nice person who gave gifts.

"Santa did just break into the house, but don't worry, we know who Santa is better than the writer did." Jack smiled, "He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!"

"How did that work? Was it like transporter rings?"

"I'm not sure, I think it was magic, not alien stuff," Jack answered again. It was strange how things for the adult Daniel's life would pop out of Danny's mouth. Jack was at the last page, "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Danny thought for a minute and asked, "Why didn't he say "Merry Christmas?"

"Because people didn't start saying Merry Christmas for years after this story was written," Jack explained, now really happy that he had watched the documentary about Christmas on the History Channel.

"Why did people starting saying 'merry'?" Danny wondered out loud.

Jack closed the book and was putting aside to pick up another. "It was from another story about Christmas."

"Can we read that one, too?" Smiled Danny, thinking he would get four books tonight.

"No, just pick out the next book," ordered Jack. He drew a deep breath. If 'The Night Before Christmas had taken almost an hour, he dreaded the thought of the questions if he read Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' to his too-smart kid!

The end. 


End file.
